SOCIAL SERVICES TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COUNCIL

                        MINUTES                   March 6, 2019

Present              Voting Attendees:

Ted Ceaser                               Consumer

Michael Hack – Vice Chair       Consumer

Kathleen Lang                          California Health & Wellness

Michelle Soto                           California Children Services CCS

Lorena Arambula                     San Diego Regional Center SDRC

Raul Cordova                           Work Training Centro WTC

Rosalina Blankenship               Area Agency on Aging/Public Administrator

Mitzi Perez                               ARC-Imperial Valley

Victor Torres                            Imperial Valley College IVC

Kathi Williams                         CTSA– ICTC

Gustavo Gomez                        CTSA– ICTC

                        Non-Voting Attendees:            

David Salgado                          Southern California Association of Governments SCAG

                        Helio Sanchez                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

                        Karla Aguilar                           IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

                          Karla Pacheco                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

                        Cesar Sanchez                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

                        Jose Guillen                             IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

                        Mark McCumsey                      Caltrans

1.       Mr. Ceaser called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m.  A quorum was present. Introductions were

made.

2.       Minutes adopted for February 6, 2019 (Blankenship, Torres), Motion Carried.

3.       CTSA Reports:            

Ms. Williams had the following updates:

-          Mr. Aguirre  and Ms.Galarza are under the weather and couldn’t be present at the meeting.

-          A fare pricing analysis for the public transit will be done, RFP has been released and proposals are due by the end of March.

-          Marketing RFP’s will be released this upcoming Friday which involves a ranking and scoring process.

-          MedTrans commercial is currently running on several TV channels as well as in the movie theaters, Mr. Guillen and Ms. Williams mentioned they have seen the commercial run; Ms. Williams requested feedback from commercial.

-          There are three versions of the commercial, one is 30 seconds, another is 60 seconds and the third one is 5 minutes long; the commercial can be shared with anyone that might be interested in it.

-          Ms. Arambula asked about mobility training and how to schedule it; Mr. Gomez discussed how to set up a meeting for the training and what can be provided during the training.

Mr. Gomez had the following updates:

-          ICTC mobility staff presented both at the ECRMC Call Center and the Behavioral Health offices in Brawley; information about all the services was presented.

-          Blue line timed trials have been taking place by First Transit to see if it Clinicas de Salud can be incorporated into the route.

-          Mr. Aguirre and Mr. Gomez attended a workshop at Orange County this month regarding the Triennial Review for ICTC and what is expected.

-          UTN Hearing was on February 21st, there were a total of approximately 10 speakers which made their opinions heard.

o   There was a wide range of demands including new requests such as blue and green line extended hours for the first time.

o   The analysis is expected to be completed on March 28th for the panel members.

o   Another example of a request was additional trips from Brawley to IVC and vice versa.

o   Mr. Ceaser commented that the usual people attended the UTN Hearing and that we were disappointed by the turnout of panel members attendance.

o   Mr. Ceaser mentioned that the STACC letter was presented and read to the panel members.

Ø  Ms. Williams responded that the analysis will be conducted by Mr. Aguirre and that on the STACC meeting of April 3rd will be about comparing the letter to the findings.

4.       Transit Operator Reports:

-          Imperial Valley Transit: Mr. Sanchez gave the following updates.

o   Timed trials on the Blue Line have been taking place to accommodate the new facility for Clinicas de Salud in El Centro.

Ø  The timed trials have been taking place at different hours of the day to see how it would be affected by traffic, a decision hasn’t been made  because more time trials will be taking place in the next week or so.

o   IVT has been conducting several community service events such as rides to and from to the fair for the senior and disabled communities.

Ø  Ms. Blankenship asked Mr. Sanchez if the change of time for the Senior Day at the fair affected the ridership of seniors going into the fair

§  Mr. Sanchez responded that the ridership was not affected  due to the time change.

-          IVT Access: Ms. Pacheco gave the following updates.

o   IVT Access has been running smoothly, numbers have been increasing in the month of February-March.

o   Ms. Pacheco mentioned that the new IVT Access vans will be in service in around 2-3 weeks, their purpose is to be used at facilities with limited access for picking up passengers.

Ø  Mr. Hack asked how many passengers were able to fit in the van.

§  Ms. Pacheco responded that there was space for 5 total passengers or  2 passengers and 2 wheelchairs.

o   IVT Access will be participating in the Transition Fair at IVC on March 15th to provide information about the services to high school students registered to begin IVC in the summer/fall.

-          IVT Ride: Ms. Aguilar gave the following updates:

o   Sign-ups for IVT Ride have been very high in the last month, it has been going well.

o   There was a total of 110 new passengers for IVT Ride on February according to Ms. Aguilar.

Ø  Mr. Hack asked Ms. Aguilar about the West Shores ridership for IVT Ride.

§  Ms. Aguilar informed him that there is a  low ridership between the West Shores area

Ø  Ms. Blankenship asked about stopping in Westmorland on the way to Brawley because stakeholder’s group is growing in numbers.

§  Ms. Williams mentioned that it is within the SRTP project, but that it is a long way out. ICTC received a request to go to Eisenhower medical building which is in Palm Desert; it would potentially alternate with the Brawley bus that goes to the West Shores area on Tuesdays.

§  Ms. Williams also mentioned that Mr. Aguirre, Mr. Gomez, and Mr. Sanchez will meet with Sunline Transit to discuss the possibility to use their transfer terminal.

-          IVT MedTrans: Mr. Guillen gave the following updates:

o   The service was slow during the month of February probably due to the weather conditions; there was no reported issues related to the snow besides the day the Interstate 8 was closed for some hours.

5.       General Discussion

-          Mr. Hack asked about the schedule for the transportation to Yuma (YCAT) and if the information could be forwarded to him.

o   Mr. Sanchez informed Mr. Hack that the YCAT schedule could found in back of the rider’s guide and if he had any questions, he could contact him.

-          Mr. Hack announced that on March 16, 2019, a meeting will be held at Strike zone, with an expected 100 people to participate.

-          Ms. Blankenship announced that the Area Agency on Aging staff will participate in a ride along with IVT Ride  into the congregate site in Brawley.

6.       Adjournment

-          Meeting adjourned at 10:42 a.m. (Torres, Lang), Motion Carried.

-          Next meeting will be held on April 3, 2019, at the Imperial County Transportation Commission Office, 1503 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 104, El Centro, CA 92243.